Elephant Sanctuary in the Making during the Foreclosure Crisis

Maybe it is high time that Los Angeles City Council needs to put its priorities right.

The number of reo listings and the unemployment rate in Los Angeles is rapidly going up. Meanwhile, the local bodies across the state are wondering which essential service they need to cut down upon to prevent their financial condition from depreciating as rapidly as it is.

American policymakers are now rethinking as to the basic way America does business. The foreclosure crisis is the only topic of discussion in town now – in café’s, around street corners, around kitchen counters etc. One can only hear people console each other about their lost jobs, bad investments and even if they can afford to celebrate the forthcoming Christmas.

However, an elephant sanctuary is in the making during the foreclosure crisis. The Los Angeles City Council is presently looking into a proposal regarding Billy, an elephant from the Los Angeles Zoo. They plan to spend about $10 million for an elephant sanctuary in the San Fernando Valley. This sanctuary is for the benefit of Billy and his friends where they can enjoy themselves.

Maybe this is not the kind of response many politicians would give to this act of kindness on the behalf of the municipal towards animals, but what?

The City Council is full of politicians trying to feel important, who need to prove their fat salaries, large staffs and huge pensions. It’s just harmless talk for them to discuss and waste their energy giving their opinion on things they don’t need to – such as why they oppose Proposition 11 – or even other subjects like – such as the topic of opposing the mass genocide in Darfur.

So during the foreclosure crisis and all these reo homes the state is facing right now, is this the correct time to discuss about elephants?

Member of the council, Tony Cardenas is the man behind the proposal regarding a sanctuary for elephants. He truly does care about the condition of the animals at the Los Angeles Zoo. And Cardenas is not wrong when he says that it is the responsibility of the council officials to care for all its assets in a proper manner. But Tony Cardenas had to wait, until the better half of the $39 million Pachyderm Forest was complete, before he suggested that the zoo shouldn’t have elephants at all.